Restoration of Chagrin's East Branch gets approval

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has given Kirtland Hills Village the green light to proceed with its efforts to restore a portion of the East Branch of the Chagrin River.

Oxbow River and Stream Restoration Inc. of Delaware, Ohio, assembled the 28-page restoration plan and will perform the work.

The work is necessitated by the disturbance of about 8,700 linear feet of the Chagrin River's east branch upstream from about Kirtland-Chardon Road to near St. Hubert's Episcopal Church on Baldwin Road.

The disturbance was the movement of about 20,000 cubic yards of gravel, stone and other aggregate material that was scooped out of the streambed and placed along the banks.

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The work was performed in part on property owned by the village. Conducting at least some of the work was Jerome T. Osborne Sr., who owns property along the stream and who also had entered into an agreement with the village to conduct the work.

In its third, and final, revised edition, the river's Stream Restoration Work Plan details what is required to rehabilitate the East Branch, a state-designated scenic river. The East Branch also is state-designated as having "outstanding state water for ecological values."

Based upon a review of Oxbow's revised plan, the OEPA is satisfied that the details spelled out in the document will accomplish the mission of restoring the stream, said Paul Anderson, the agency's environmental specialist.

Among the plan's highlights are items that will facilitate the natural recovery of the river, according to the document.

"This plan meets the intent of the orders and should go a long way in restoring the habitat and protecting the stream bank," Anderson said.

"The end result is to establish a natural self-sustaining system."

The collected spoil piles -- some of which are 10 to 15 feet high -- will be used to aid in the restoration efforts but in such a way as not to impede water movement.

This will be done through regrading, the report says. Also, various native trees, vines and shrubs will be planted along a minimum 120-foot wide corridor.

The work is set for August through December but could continue into next summer. Riparian plantings will be conducted either in late autumn or early spring of 2011.

Parts of the plan are already being implemented, including survey work and some pre-project monitoring, Anderson added.

He said a case regarding this issue and involving Osborne remains before the Ohio Attorney General's Office.